Captain Future 25 - Moon of the Unforgotten (January 1951) (6 page)

“How did you find them in the shadows?” demanded Roger.

“That was easy. Master,” boasted Grag. “They’re telepathic, and I could sense the mind-currents coming from them.”

GRAG LEARNS TO BOAST

Roger nodded. The moon-wolves were slightly telepathic, and Grag, as a result of his own brain being subjected to telepathic currents, was more sensitive to their presence than a human being would have been.

“You’re sure you killed about fifty?” asked Simon, his manner still cold.

“Well, maybe it was only thirty,” admitted Grag, unabashed. “But I could have killed fifty if they had been there. I could have killed a hundred, a thousand. It was easy, Master. I didn’t need an atom-gun, I just pulled them apart.”

He flexed his metallic muscles, while the two scientists stared.

“You don’t realize, Master, just how strong I am. Why, there was never anybody like me. I’ll show you what I can do —”

“Don’t bother,” interrupted Simon, smiling in spite of himself.

“Whatever you say, Master. But it was a cinch, pulling them apart. I can tear apart anything that exists. I can take a space ship, and throw it off the Moon. Why, with my atomic motors —”

“Get into the laboratory,” commanded Simon. “Prepare that colloid solution for the android we’re creating.”

“Yes, Master,” said Grag humbly, and obeyed.

Roger laughed. But Simon scowled. “He’s going to be insufferable.”

“At first. But he’ll straighten out. After all, he’s only a couple of days old,” reminded Roger Newton. “I think we’re going to enjoy Grag.”

“I hope you’re right, Because if you’re not —” But the implied threat was never carried out. As Roger had predicted, Grag did improve. But never again did he display the touching confidence in others that he had shown in his first incarnation.

He was always to remain slightly vain, selfish, proud of his strength, eager to show it off — in a word, he was always to remain more human. He would get along.

Captain Future’s Strangest Adventure

From the Summer 1943 issue of Captain Future

On a Mysterious “Rogue Planet” the Futuremen Encounter an Amazing Fantastic Experience While in Search of Fuel!

CAPTAIN FUTURE still isn’t sure whether or not it really happened. Grag swears that it was all a dream. Otho believes that they were all temporarily out of their minds. But the Brain insists that the whole crazy adventure was scientifically possible.

It happened to the Futuremen on their way back from that long star-quest to the cosmic cloud near the galaxy’s center. The
Comet
was droning back toward the System at tremendous speed when Otho came into the control-room to report.

“We’re nearly out of fuel, Chief,” he told Curt. “We’ll have to stop somewhere for copper soon.”

FUEL SHORTAGE

The atomic generators which powered the
Comet’s
vibration-drive used powdered copper fuel. During this long voyage through the galaxy, they had been forced to stop at several star-systems to replenish the fuel.

Captain Future frowned. “The nearest star is a long way out of our course. I hate to lose time going there for copper.”

The ship was traversing a rather empty region of the galaxy, and the nearest star with planets was several light-years on their left.

“Maybe there’s a dark star somewhere nearer than that,” suggested Simon Wright. “Take a look around with the spectro-telescope, Grag.”

Grag went to the instrument and for some minutes carefully swept space with it. He suddenly uttered a satisfied exclamation.

“We’re in luck! There’s a ‘rogue planet’ only a few billion miles away from us, and almost in our course.”

ROGUE PLANET

A “rogue planet” was the name given to wandering planets of the void not attached to any star-system. The Futuremen had encountered many such solitary, wandering worlds which unguessable cosmic disasters had torn loose from their parent suns and set raving alone.

Curt at once shifted the course of the
Comet
toward the unseen “rogue” world. It soon bulked up ahead of them in the blaze of the galaxy’s stars, a planet of medium size. It had atmosphere, and there was an odd pearly glow of light about it.

They landed in that soft, dawn-like glow upon a rolling, grassy plain. Their instruments showed that the atmosphere was oxygenated and had a warmth as surprising as the sourceless light.

“Queer looking planet,” Curt commented, puzzledly. “Well, we’ve no time for exploring. We’ll just scout around until we find some copper and then get on our way.”

They emerged into the soft, warm air. They needed no space-suits, but Curt carried an instrument capable of locating copper deposits by means of a principle of atomic resonance.

The instrument showed nothing. He looked around at the silent landscape and then pointed to some low hills westward.

“We’ll try those hills. If there’s copper there, the resonator will locate it.”

WISH FULFILLMENT

The Futuremen started forward, striding across the grassy plain in the soft glow.

“I was hoping we’d find something edible here — I’m tired of synthetic rations,” complained Otho. “I could go for a juicy Jovian marsh-apple right now.”

The words were no sooner out of his mouth, than an incredible thing happened. There was a swirl of mist close by them and suddenly a squat, many-branched tree came magically into existence.

It was an unmistakable Jovian marsh-apple tree. And it was loaded with pale, heavy fruit.

“Imps of Space!” yelled Otho, recoiling. “Do you others see it too?”

“It wasn’t there a minute ago — it just appeared out of nothing!” stammered Grag.

Curt Newton had swiftly drawn his proton-pistol. He was looking around in sharp alarm.

“That tree can’t be real!” he exclaimed. “It’s an illusion of our minds. That means that we’re being somehow hypnotically attacked.”

“Hang it, the thing looks real enough,” Otho protested. He stepped forward, jerked one of the big marsh-apples off a twig, and sank his teeth into it. He looked up, stupefied. “It
is
real! And it’s good.”

He reached to pick another of the fruits. But, as he made the motion, the tree abruptly dissolved into mist and was gone.

“It’s gone again!” Grag shouted. “Chief, what does it mean?”

The Brain spoke sharply. “There’s some fantastic power at work on this world. I think we’d better leave here at once.”

CAPTAIN FUTURE PROVES STUBBORN

But Captain Future’s stubborn streak was aroused. “I still think it was just a trick of illusion. And we’re going to get copper here before we go.”

“That marsh-apple was no illusion — it was real and solid,” Otho insisted.

“Say, maybe this is a Wishing World, of some kind?” Grag suggested eagerly. “Maybe all you have to do is wish for something here and you get it?”

“Don’t be childish,” Curt said acidly.

“I’m going to try it, anyway,” Grag persisted. “I wish — I wish I had a diamond as big as my fist.”

With breathtaking rapidity, a brilliant, blazing something appeared on the ground at their feet. It was a pure white diamond, and it was as large as Grag’s huge metal fist.

“Holy space-imps!” yelled Otho. “It really works! You can wish for anything here and get it.”

He rubbed his hands together. “Here’s where I get myself a lot of things I always wanted. First, though, I’m thirsty. I wish I had some water.”

The word “water” had no sooner left his lips, than all four of them found themselves struggling in a deep lake. Grag went down through the blue waters like a stone. The Brain darted up into the air, while Curt and Otho swam rapidly toward the nearest shore.

As they emerged dripping from the miraculously-formed lake, Grag came striding up out of the waters. The robot could not drown, and he had walked along the bottom as they swam.

Grag sputtered furiously. “Next time you wish for anything, Otho, you specify how much of it you want!”

THE STRANGER

Curt asked the Brain, stunned: “What do you make of it, Simon? I still believe it’s all illusion.”

“If so, it’s a remarkably convincing one,” rasped the Brain.

“Say, look — there’s somebody coming!” exclaimed Otho.

They all swung around, drawing their weapons. A tall, dark, pleasant-faced young man in an ordinary zipper-suit was approaching them.

“Watch it!” Curt rasped. “If we’ve been undergoing some kind of hypnotic attack, this fellow may be responsible.”

The stranger stopped, looking at them with interest. He spoke, in the interstellar
lingua franca
whose root is the ancient Denebian tongue.

“You’re visitors from outside?” he said to Curt. “Welcome to our world. My name is Ptar.”

“Will you tell us what kind of crazy world this is?” exploded Captain Future. “We landed here to get copper for fuel, and we’ve been wondering whether or not we’ve all lost our minds.”

Ptar laughed. “I’ll tell you all about it. But you must come along to my peoples’ city. We have plenty of copper there.”

Curt hesitated, then agreed. If this were a fantastic dream it didn’t matter whether or not he went. And if this were real, he wanted to learn what was at the bottom of it.

THE SCIENCE OF PTAR

“You see,” said Ptar as they started westward toward the low hills, “this is a very peculiar planet. If you want anything, and concentrate your mind on it, you can create it.”

“But
how!”
asked Curt exasperatedly.

Ptar shrugged. “We don’t understand the scientific basis of it ourselves. It seems obvious that matter and energy do not follow the same natural laws here as in the rest of the universe.”

He stopped, and said casually, “It’s too far to walk to my city. We’d better have a car.”

Instantly, beside Ptar appeared a low-slung rocket-car of shining metal. Ptar motioned them to enter, and took the driver’s seat himself.

As the car scudded westward over the plain at a rapid rate, Curt first pinched himself and then hammered the metal side of the vehicle. He bruised his fist against its very real solidity.

“I can’t understand it,” he gasped. “There’s a people on Neptune’s moon, back in our own System, who can perform some weird feats of creation; but they really create only insubstantial phantoms. This car is real!”

“Well, it’s made life easy for my people,” Ptar said practically. “I suppose that’s the reason we’re not very advanced scientifically. We have no need of science, when we can get whatever we need by just wanting it.”

A big glassite jug of Venusian brandy appeared suddenly in Otho’s lap.

“None of that, Otho!” exclaimed Curt. “You can wish that stuff right back out of existence — things are upsetting enough, without you starting to drink.”

Otho looked guilty, and the jug of brandy swirled into mist and vanished as rapidly as it had appeared.

“Can I help it if my mind wanders?” demanded the android.

The speeding car approached a city. It was like a great blue jewel, its sapphire domes resting upon the plain like shimmering iridescent bubbles.

Men and women thronged its streets. Children played in blossoming gardens. There was a noisy bustle of activity around big markets.

Ptar drove the rocket-car into the center of the sapphire city and there stopped it. He asked Curt, as they got out of the vehicle:

“How do you like our city?”

“It’s beautiful,” Captain Future declared. “One of the loveliest places I’ve seen in the universe.”

Ptar shook his head doubtfully. “I’m not completely satisfied with the city. To tell the truth, I’m not satisfied with myself. I guess I’ll just do away with it all.”

And, incredibly, the whole thronged, busy city, with all its buildings and crowds, shivered into swirling mist and was
gone.
At the same moment, with a clear, mocking laugh, Ptar himself vanished.

The dazed Futuremen found themselves standing in the middle of the empty, grassy plain.

“That settles it!” shouted Grag. “We
are
dreaming. I knew it all the time.”

“Illusion — all of it illusion, of some kind,” muttered the Brain.

“It wasn’t illusion — that rocket-car and that man were solid and real as ourselves!” insisted Captain Future, staggered.

He turned. “We’re getting off this world, pronto. We can get copper somewhere else. I know when I’ve had enough!”

SYNTHETIC OBSTACLES

They started back toward the
Comet,
in a trot. Before they had gone more than a few steps, a wall of mist swirled up in front of them.

The mist suddenly became a huge, towering mountain-range whose precipitous slopes loomed thousands of feet above them. The mighty escarpment ran north and south for miles, and was between them and the
Comet.

“Who wished for those mountains?” bellowed Grag furiously. “Was it you, Otho?”

“Good Lord, no!” stammered the startled android.

“None of us did. There’s a power on this planet that has been
playing
with us ever since we landed here!” Captain Future gritted. “Come on — we’ll have to climb over this range.”